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Heavy Drivers(weapon)
Unlock Heavy Drivers are unlocked by the technology of the same name, Heavy Drivers Use Notes These large weapons are the third largest Ballistic Weapon available to players. This weapon will enjoy a brief period of total battlefield domination in the last stages of the early game before it is eclipsed by the Heavy Fusion Cannon. However, in the Antimatter age, players who intend to field Impactors and Siege Drivers will be pleased to note that the upgrades to all Ballistic Weapons are especially effective on the Heavy Driver, opening an opportunity against any player foolish enough to neglect advanced armor research. However, the death knell of the Heavy Driver is the launch of the first ship with Magnoceramic Lattices. In longer games, the last fight will never include this weapon. As with all Ballistic Weapons, the Heavy Driver benefits immensely from targeting command sections. Without them, it's nearly useless against Destroyers at all but point blank ranges. With them, the Heavy Driver will graciously assist any Destroyer in range with escaping the planetary gravity well, though perhaps not in one piece. This is the first weapon which exerts enough kinetic force to cause noticable secondary damage. The game models Newtonian physics fairly well, and this includes the G-force caused by sudden accelerations. G-force over a certain threshold actually causes damage to a ship by causing the superstructure to buckle and bend. This is how damage from Siege Drivers and Asteroid collisions against ships is calculated. For Dreadnoughts, it is impractical to exert enough force to cause sufficient G-force strain to cause damage. For Destroyers, it's laughably easy. Because of the variables involved and unknown variables under the game engine's hood, it is difficult to estimate how much damage will be done by G-forces. Known variables include the mass of the projectle, target, velocity of projectile and target, angle of the strike and the leverage against the center of mass of the target. Suffice to say, the Heavy Driver will tend to do more damage against smaller ship classes, over and above the raw damage calculations. Upgrades Heavy Drivers recieve a 20% rate of fire increase from VRF Technology, 50% more mass and 50% more damage from Neutronium Rounds, and the 20% velocity and 10% damage increase from Accelerator Amplification. Because the base mass and damage of the Heavy Driver is significantly greater than that of most other Ballistic Weapons, Heavy Drivers get much more benefit from these % increases. Counters Heavy Drivers will ricochet off of ships with one of the four armors, but ricochets will still impart kinetic force. All Heavy Driver damage will be completely negated by Grav Shields and Shield Projectors. Deflectors give a 50% deflection armor in front of the ship, which will cause Mass Driver rounds to bounce off in 30% of angles. Statistics Construction Planetary Bombardment Apparently, Heavy Drivers strike planets so hard that they kick up enough debris into the atmosphere to change the climate. Ship to Ship Armor Interactions Legacy Wiki Category:Ballistic Weapons Category:Large Weapons Category:SotS1 Category:Weapons